Ford is confident the Cup Mustang will success regardless of the formula

Share

But complicating matters is that no one knows for sure how the car will perform, mostly because no one knows exactly what competition package NASCAR will order up for 2019.

A major subplot leading into next season is just how many times NASCAR will employ the drafting package first used in the All-Star Race back in May. Despite the fact that Ford driver Kevin Harvick won the race in a season in which he has already won six points-paying races, it stands to reason that a car that is suited for a lower downforce package wouldn’t necessarily be as stout in a pack race.

Brad Keselowski is the latest star driver to warn NASCAR officials against implementing the All-Star Race rules package for points-paying Monster Energy Cup Series races in 2018 and beyond.Such a ...

"It's a real dartboard," Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski conceded. "None of the cars have been properly tested under that configuration. So, I have no idea how competitive it will be. If we stick with what we have right now, I expect this race car to be extremely competitive and an advancement from what we have now."

Like most drivers, Kevin Harvick has offered reasoned skepticism to any package that reduces driver skill and increases randomness or forced parity.

He says he is no longer even engaging with NASCAR on the 2019 rules package discussion.

"For me, I've decided to step out of that conversation," Harvick said. "I get frustrated with a lot of those things. So, I've just decided to step back and remove myself from that."

They say comparison is the thief of joy.Having the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 on back-to-back weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway made it awfully easy to compare. The ...

Never one to hold back a strong opinion, team owner and former driver Tony Stewart said the drafting package is the embodiment of everything he has opposed in NASCAR over the past decade.

"I'll put it like this, I'm not in favor of anything that makes these cars easier to drive," Stewart said. "It started with the splitters and the other crap they pulled from sport cars and installed on the Car of Tomorrow and it's gotten worse from there.

"That doesn't mean we don't have good racing right now. We do. We've had some very good races. I just don't want the drivers to mean way less than some engineer in front of his computer. That's not what we're about."

Meanwhile, Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance and his predecessor, Dave Pericak, simply built the best car to the specs they had available.

"There's a box everyone needs to fit into and it's the same box," Rushbrook said. "We're all facing that same shift. We design around the rules as we know them today. We can anticipate a little bit and prepare for if that happens."

Upon further review, NASCAR is pumping the brakes on the All-Star Race rules package, at least for now.In a statement first released on NASCAR.com, the sanctioning body revealed on Thursday that the ...

Matt Weaver
- Matt Weaver is an associate motorsports editor at Autoweek. Before becoming a journalist, he was a dirt track racer and short track cheeseburger connoisseur.
See more by this author»